A personal weblog on issues related to the use of biometrics, in order to promote the effective development & implementation of all Biometric technologies (Fingerprint, Iris, Retina, Voice Recognition, Vein, Hand, Keystroke dynamics, Signature) standards and applications.

Saturday, April 09, 2005

MITSUBISHI INTRODUCES ...

MITSUBISHI INTRODUCES WORLDS FIRST TOUCHLESS FINGERPRINT SENSOR

New fingerprint reader scans prints without touching skin. The world's first scanning device that reads fingerprints without touching the skin will hit the market this autumn, Mitsubishi Electric said.

The device could be used to enhance security measures at financial institutions and airports.

The new scanner uses light from a red light-emitting diode (LED) to read fingerprint patterns under the surface of the skin. Red LEDs are typically used in a wide variety of industrial uses, such as in automotive electronics or medical instruments.

Ordinary fingerprint sensors take prints using physical contact between the finger and a glass plate.

In some cases, however, such physical fingerprint readers are unable to take an accurate print when the subject's skin is rough, wrinkled or covered in perspiration.

In the new LED device, the user places a finger in the reader with the nail facing up. A light scans through the finger and analyzes the convex and concave patterns of the skin layer below the surface.

Financial institutions, eager to find ways to circumvent thefts of personal data and cash, are anxious to find devices like the Mitsubishi Electric reader to provide better identification at ATMs.

11 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Interesting but how accurate is it? I think Tensor’s new systems use a new technology which actually reads below the user's surface layer of (dead) skin down to the live sub-dermal layer where an individual's true fingerprint resides. It works by bouncing electromagnetic waves, similar to radio waves, off the live tissue and blood flow underneath a persons skin. These reflections are recorded to build up a picture of the fingerprint, which is matched against the persons known fingerprint recorded earlier.Here is the URL: http://www.tensor.co.uk/english/sub-dermal-fingerprint-scanner.htm